The IRS also targeted "progressive" groups as a class, as the above excerpt from documents released Monday shows. Click to enlarge.

When the Treasury Department inspector general for tax administration appeared before a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing on June 3, he did not shy away from introducing a highly politicized framework for understanding the Internal Revenue Service's actions in targeting conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status.

"This is unprecedented, Congressman .... During the Nixon Administration, there were attempts to use the Internal Revenue
Service in manners that might be comparable in terms of misusing it," J. Russell George, the George W. Bush appointee who leads the IG's office, told the committee in the closely watched hearing.

"I'm not saying that ... the actions that were taken are
comparable, but I'm just saying, you know, that the misuse of the --
causing a distrust of the system occurred sometime ago. But this is
unprecedented," he continued.

It seemed a needlessly inflammatory statement. The impartial investigator within the Treasury Department had just, unprompted, introduced the historic specter of presidential involvement in directing abusive tax treatment of White House enemies, despite a total lack of evidence that such a thing had occurred under President Obama, according to his own findings thus far. It was the first mention of Nixon at the hearing, albeit delivered with a deliberative caveat. He wasn't saying, he was just saying, you know?

George introduced the specter of presidential involvement in abusive tax treatment of White House enemies, despite a total lack of evidence it had occurred. He wasn't saying, he was just saying, you know?

Documents released on Monday show that the Tax Exempt Division didn't just target groups with "Tea Party," "patriot," or "9/12" in their names. The IRS also explicitly targeted groups that included the word "progressive" in their names, undermining the entire idea that conservative groups alone found themselves treated in particular ways. This revelation is not a huge surprise: By June 5 it was clear that a substantial
fraction of the targeted groups since 2010 were left of center or nonpartisan,
including a number whose name began with the word "progressive," as I reported at
the time. There were hints of this bigger picture in the Treasury's May report, as well, but it was so narrowly written to focus on the treatment of conservative groups that it did not get into detail as to what had been done to the other groups, or what exactly who they were.

In May, George declined to answer questions about whether progressive groups were targeted, a kind cageyness that now raises questions about his impartiality in presenting findings about what went on at the IRS.

At the May 22 House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing "The IRS: Targeting Americans for Their Beliefs," Chairman Darrell Issa asked George point-blank about "be on the lookout" orders: "Were there any BOLOs issued for progressive
groups, liberal
groups?"

"Sir, this is a very important question," the courtly George replied. "Please, I beg your
indulgence .... The only 'be on the lookout,' that is BOLO, used to refer
cases for political review were the
ones that we described within our report."

"There were other BOLOs used
for other purposes," he added -- such as "indicators of
known fraud schemes" and, for "nationwide organizations,
there were notes to refer state and local chapters to the same
reviewers."